Day of Good Fortune
by WatchMeSoar
Summary: On Katara's wedding day, Sokka takes a moment with his sister. Just a sweet reflection piece. Fluff.


**A/N: This is my first fanfiction! Tada! Well, it's no work of art, but its an idea that had been playing around in my head for a while, and I thought someone out there might like it, too. I'm admittedly a huge fan of fluff, (yeah- cheesy, emotional goodness..) and thats really all this is, as well as, hopefully, a glimpse at the more serious side of one of my favorite characters ever. Anyway, I'll shut up now. Enjoy!**

 **Disclaimer: Do not own. I'm writing fanfiction.**

"Hey, hey, you're good. You look fine."

Aang hadn't stopped fidgeting all day; straightening his robes, picking his teeth, pacing, even just twiddling his thumbs—it was starting to drive Sokka mad.

Aang looked over at him. "Really? Its hard to tell in this stuffy thing."

Sokka sighed. Again. "Yes, really."

"Seriously, theres nothing to be afraid of," Zuko took up the conversation from his place in the corner. "It's just Katara."

But it wasn't just Katara. Soon it would be a smiling, beautiful, bride Katara. She and Aang would be married that morning, in no more than an hour. It was long in waiting; Aang's age had put them close to the end of the list of people being wed. But the day was finally here and Aang couldn't be more ecstatic.

Sokka, though he'd never gush, was pretty happy too.

"Hey, buddy, you'd better get out there and take your place," he said with a glance at the sun, "Your moment's coming. It'd be a shame to be late."

Aang breathed deep, nodding. "Yeah, okay. Okay."

Sokka looked over at the third member of their party. "Zuko, you think you can manage him? We don't want another breakdown."

"I'm not breaking down!"

"Yeah, I've got it," the Fire Lord said with a smirk. "He'll be at the alter, don't worry."

"Where are you headed to?" Aang asked.

"Well, I love ya, my friend, but it's a pretty big day for my sister, too."

Aang shook his excitement-muddled head, with a muttered "right, right…"

Sokka took a look at his friend—his brother—and pulled him into a strong hug, his voice quiet and quite sober "You deserve her, Aang. You are the only person in this world who does, or who ever will." He pulled back and gentle shook Aang by the shoulders, reverting quickly to his brash humor with a jovial smirk, "And she loves you, and this is a good day, so for the Spirits' sake would you _calm down_?"

Both of his companions laughed, and with that, Sokka headed out of the room and down the hall, hearing his friends behind him and feeling grateful for today's good fortune.

III

Sokka knocked on the door at the end of the hall, hearing the whispers and giggles muffled through the door. It was his wife who answered.

Suki, already mirthful, widened her grin "Hey, babe. Come on in." And she let him enter with a quick peck of happy greeting. "We just finished up. Isn't she beautiful?"

And she was. But with present company being not only Suki and Katara, but also Toph, Mai, and Ty Lee, Sokka brushed it off with a 'well, I wouldn't know, but I trust you not to make her look like a lion turtle.'

His sister looked over her shoulder, away from the vanity at which she was adjusting her make-up, and smiled at her brother. "Hi, Sokka!" She turned fully toward him and he had to fight for his voice back.

"It's almost time. You about ready?"

"I'm ready," she said, with so much certainty.

Suki, sensing something in her husband, took this moment to usher the other girls out of the room. "Okay, I think it's time that we all get out there." Then with a nod to Katara, "Don't be too long! There's no party without you there!" And with a wink and a smile, she shut the door.

Sokka, who had watched them all leave, turned back around only to receive an armful of a rather excited Katara.

He let out a startled chortle. "Hey, now," he laughed, "Don't break me, I've got things to do today."

Katara pulled back, and countered with an "Oh, sure. I would know a thing about busy days, huh?" Still grinning.

"Has dad come to see you yet?"

"Yeah, he just left a few minuted before you got here."

Hakoda, who had travelled to Ba Sing Se with Sokka and Suki, had indeed come in earlier to with his daughter luck and express how proud of her he was. He then left her to take his own place, because, as it would be him who would wed Aang and his daughter together, he wasn't giving Katara away today.

Sokka was. And it was an honor that, privately, he took very deeply to heart.

He held Katara at arm's length, still grinning. "Hang on. Let me take a look at you."

She stepped back more and held out her arms to appease him. He looked at her, really looked at her this time. She was dressed in a simply designed yet elegant white, silk gown, with delicate green embroidery the bottom and around the trumpet sleeves. Her hair sported her signature hair loopies (he never _did_ figure out what they were actually called) that played back into a bun, but otherwise flowed down to her waist in beautifully done waves. She held a bouquet or dusty purple and white flowers tied with a silk ribbon, and had anyone seen her shoes Sokka knew that they would be intricately beaded and modestly sparkly. Around her neck was a lovely, glinting, pearly peach colored betrothal necklace that Aang had painstakingly carved, incorporating both her culture and his into the item that would mean so much. It had not come off since the moment she received it, and although her mother's necklace was still safely in her possession and so, so cherished, it was doubtful that she would ever see the need to wear it again. But, he would admit, the thing that shone most about her was her shining eyes and face-splitting smile that left no room for doubt in her decision to marry Aang.

She was a woman now, he thought. No turning back. This was it. She was grown up.

Seeing her brother's grin soften some, Katara became curious. "Sokka? What're you thinking?"

He tried, quite valiantly, to come up with a witty response, but as he was undeniably feeling way too sentimental today he could think of nothing to say but the truth. And so, when he found his uncharacteristically hushed voice, that's what he gave her.

"You look beautiful."

She was struck with the gentleness with which he said this, and searched his face harder, looking for answers. Her eyes searched his, and he looked quickly away when he felt the slightest prickle behind his own.

"I—err…" He cleared his throat and tried to calm his shaking voice. "I brought you something."

"Really?"

"Yeah. You know, with you being Water Tribe and all, I thought that incorporating the 'something blue' into your getup would't be that much of a problem. But I see that it has been effectively forgotten."

It was true. Katara had, quite by accident, played into the "Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue" tradition, with the shoes that Suki herself had worn for her own wedding, the newly sewn dress that Toph had insisted on helping to commission, and the flowers from Iroh's own garden that he often used to beautifully decorate his tea shop, all she was missing was something blue.

Sokka fumbled through the pocket of his best Water Tribe-blue robes, and withdrew something small and sparkling. Upon inspection Katara found it to be one of the loveliest hair pins she'd ever seen, being small and elegant, made of a twisted grouping of light and dark blue pearls. She gasped softly, and looked up at her brother.

"I brought it up with me, from home," he told her, brushing back a stray strand of hair and pinning it into place in her bun, "It belong to Mom."

Tears gathered in Katara's eyes, but she did not let them fall, not yet—if she knew Sokka he wasn't don't talking yet. She needed to hear whatever he had to say.

Sokka couldn't stop his mouth after the first few vulnerable words escaped. He looked at his sister for a moment, and then, once again, pulled her into another gentle embrace.

"I know that I didn't really, you know, make a great stand-in for her—or Dad—when it came to taking care of you. But I did my best. Really. And despite me you turned out to be a remarkable woman." They both softly chuckled at this. "I am so, so proud of you," his voice cracked, and he breathed deeply to steady himself, "and even though a cannot believe you're all grown up, I'm happy that you chose Aang. I happy for you both."

By now they both had let go of a few silent tears, although one of them still refused to acknowledge them. Sokka kissed her temple, and pulled back to look at her again.

Katara, for her part, was just fine communicating non-verbally, with her shimmering eyes and grateful, soft smile that spoke more words between the siblings than articulation ever could.

Glancing out at the sun, Sokka deemed it to be near enough to the time they had to walk. He shook himself, physically and mentally, and over dramatically (if not a little shakily) wiped at and fanned his eyes.

"Wheew," he sniffed, and blinked the glassiness away, "look at what you did, you're gonna make my make-up run."

Katara laughed, and lightly whacked his arm in a silent, gentle reprimand.

"Hey, what?" he laughed a bit more, "I'm allowed to be a little emotional on my baby sister's wedding day."

She gave him one more brilliant smile, and took his arm. He opened the door for her, and together they walked down the hall that ended with a door to the gardens, where the wedding would take place. The two were silent, until they got to the door, and, after Sokka had signaled that it was time for things to begin, Katara used her hold on his arm to pull his ear down to her level and whispered to him what, to her, summed up things between them for that day and every day before.

"Thank you, big brother."

III

Aang and Katara were married under a newly blooming cherry tree in a lush, Earth Kingdom garden. The day was beautiful, the birds were singing, and it seemed as it the Spirits themselves were smiling down on the Avatar and his chosen.

Sokka sat, tightly holding Suki's hand, and watched as Aang slowly but surely calmed down in the presence of Katara, getting visibly lost in her gaze, and Katara's radiant smile never once faltering.

As the reception went on later that night, after taking his turn dancing with the bride, Sokka found himself on the balcony, looking out over the garden and the dozens of people celebrating. He could see Suki, laughing with his father and Toph. He could make out the somewhat shadowed forms of Zuko and Mai, composedly dancing together and obviously content. And the he could easily spot his sister, in the arms of the man that had held her heart for so long, looking more eager than ever to begin the rest of her life with him.

Sokka smiled, and as a spring Monarch butterfly flitted passed him, he decided that this was truly a promise of good fortune.

 **A/N: Well, there you have it. In multiple cultures a butterfly, in some way, shape or form, is thought to be a good omen. And they're in a garden, so it worked.**

 **I love Sokka, and a** ** _really_** **love Big Brother Sokka. I hope this wasn't boring! Please r/r, I'll accept constructive criticism but no hate please!**


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